Not only did Cyclone State lead into the turn, the Iowa-bred pulled away from the field in the stretch and easily won the $150,000 Jerome Stakes on a chilly Saturday at Aqueduct.
Trained by Chad Summers, the 3-year-old McKenzie colt was eight lengths ahead by the eighth-pole and cruised home by 3 ½ lengths, with Omaha Omaha closing well for second, followed by Ican, Studlydoright, and Mansetti.
Cyclone State. NYRA/Coglianese Photo.
Iowa-bred earns 10 Kentucky Derby qualifying points
McAfee, the morning-line 2-1 favorite trained by Rick Dutrow, Jr., was scratched, reducing the field to seven.
The 1-mile Jerome is a Kentucky Derby (G1) points qualifier, with Cyclone State earning 10 points in the first Derby prep of 2025. The next four finishers earned 5-3-2-1 points, respectively.
Cyclone State went off as the 3-1 third choice and returned $8.60 on a $2 win bet. Time for the mile was 1:40.82.
As expected, Enduring Spirit dueled with Cyclone State early for the lead, but the winner took charge in the backstretch and into the turn and was never threatened. Studlydoright, the favorite, looked like he could challenge but came up empty in the stretch.
“I break trying to go to the lead, then I saw the number one [Enduring Spirit] going for the same thing as me,’’ winning rider Luis Rivera said. “I just put my horse like five paths outside the other horse, so my horse got relaxed a little bit, because I wasn’t worried about the number one. So, I let him stay there, then whenever I saw [an opening], I just moved to the rail and by the quarter pole I was asking him and he was there for me the whole way.”
Cyclone State extended his winning streak to three after needing five races to break his maiden. The winner is co-owned by Al Gold’s Gold Square, winners of the 2024 Jerome with Drum Roll Please.
Summers said he’d talk with the owners about the colt’s next start, which could be the $1.5 million Saudi Derby on Feb. 22, but for now Cyclone State is headed to Florida to continue training.
“He’s nominated to Saudi. The ‘noms’ come out on the eighth and I think this will get us an invitation. There’s a lot of things to take into consideration at this point,’’ Summers said.
Other options include the Holy Bull (G3) at Gulfstream Park and the Withers (G3) at Aqueduct, both Derby points qualifiers and both on Feb. 1.
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